Introducing Geophysics

Peter Styles is a British geologist. He was Professor of Applied and Environmental Geophysics at Keele University. He is a past President of the Geological Society of London.

• Contents: Preface; Acknowledgements. Sourced illustrations. Introduction and scene setting. 1. Heat flow and the driving forces; 2. Seismology and seismic exploration; 3. The Earth’s magnetic field and its implications; 4. Electrical properties of the Earth; 5. Gravity: the figure and structure of the Earth; 6. Geophysics goes to work! Glossary. Further reading.

‘This book therefore attempts to fiIl a gaping void in knowledge for many people. Not only does it do that, it also serves to show the enormous job that geophysicists do. It's thanks to them that we are able to find and exploit oil and gas reserves and metalliferous deposits. As we've come to expect from this series of Dunedin books. it's well designed with numerous full colour photographs, diagrams and maps. Highly recommended.’ Down to Earth'This short but informative book is a further addition to the series of introductory books on earth sciences produced by Dunedin. It demonstrates the importance of geophysics in an introductory and engaging way. Almost all of our knowledge about the subsur­face of the Earth, from a few tens of metres down to the centre of the core, has come from geophysical studies. Fortunately, the Earth is a large and slow-moving body, so we can ignore both quantum physics and relativity; the principles of geophysics can be developed by the use of classical physics together with math­ematics. In this book the author has minimised the maths to make the volume as accessible and attractive as possible… Once the reader has worked through this book, he/she will be in a good position to tackle some of the more advanced books suggested in the ‘Further Reading’ suggestions. The book is well illustrated with clear diagrams and pictures, and supported by a detailed and comprehensive glossary of more than 140 entries that are also referenced back to the main text, doubling its use as an index.' Proceedings of the OUGS